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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “react native”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “react native”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 4 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

BeyondSEO – AI SEO to Improve Rankings, Listings & Online Visibility shows at wp.org #15 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 1463 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Visibility – Lightweight SEO, AEO and GEO for Search and AI 600+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 LearnPress – WordPress LMS Plugin for Create and Sell Online Courses 70K+ · 4.3★ (597) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #6 ↑3 1 too low 6 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #8 ↑6 2 too low 7 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #10 ↓3 3 too low 8 Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally 400K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 WPGraphQL 30K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too high 10 Notibar – Notification Bar for WordPress 8K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too low 11 Spectra Blocks – AI Website Builder for the Block Editor 60K+ · 4.6★ (53) wp.org #9 ↓3 2 too high 12 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #22 ↓1 10 too low 13 Quads Ads Manager for Google AdSense 20K+ · 4.9★ (1087) wp.org #23 ↑1 10 too low 14 Wicked Folders – Folder Organizer for Pages, Posts, and Custom Post Types 20K+ · 4.9★ (56) wp.org #21 ↑2 7 too low 15 Photo Gallery by Re Gallery: Responsive Image Gallery with AI SEO 700+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #16 ↑3 1 too low 16 WP Change Email Sender 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too high 17 CoCart – Headless REST API for WooCommerce 900+ · 4.9★ (21) wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too high 18 Advanced Views – Display Framework – Gutenberg/Elementor/Shortcode 3K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 تقویم فارسی – Persian Calendar 3K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too high 20 Video Player Block – play videos beautifully on any device 2K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21 Ultimate Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode & Under Construction – Gutenberg Block Builder & Landing Page 9K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 BeyondSEO – AI SEO to Improve Rankings, Listings & Online Visibility 20K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Cards Layout – showcase content in responsive card grids 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↑2 3 too high 24 Slider and Carousel Block – Responsive, Accessible 900+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓1 6 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.